


Interdepartmental Team-building Exercises

by BirchBow (chaoticTenebrism), LaughingStones



Series: Rich Merrill, Deluxe edition [1]
Category: After the Storm - Raymond Roach & Key Dyson & Hannah Birchwood, Motorcity (Cartoon)
Genre: ABBAO, But no knotting, Cadet!Rich, Crossover, Experience Difference, Like ABO, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:08:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18758902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticTenebrism/pseuds/BirchBow, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingStones/pseuds/LaughingStones
Summary: Chuck isn’t exactly sure about this situation, but...hot cadet needs to get dicked down by everyman techsis basically a porn setup, and he’d have to be a dumbass not to take advantage of it.





	Interdepartmental Team-building Exercises

**Author's Note:**

> ABBAO is our version of ABO, slightly more complicated and without the bits we don't enjoy, like knotting and Betas having no real reason to exist. Instead of Alphas, Betas and Omegas, there are Os, As, Bs and ABs, and each type is only fertile with/attracted to certain others in heat and rut. This fic doesn't go into the worldbuilding much, but other fics will.

Chuck doesn’t notice what he’s smelling, for a minute or two. And once he does notice it, it takes him another couple of minutes to recognize it. It’s somebody’s scent, but spicy and organic and warm, not a smell he recognizes from life in Deluxe. The novelty is only part of the reason he gets stuck on it, though. It smells really-- It smells...

Liam notices him scenting the air instead of listening and gives him an exasperated look--then takes a sniff himself and blinks, interest dawning on his face.

“Cedar!” he says, because sometimes Liam knows things he really shouldn’t know.

“What?” says Chuck.

“Cedar,” says Liam. “It’s one of the scents they sell for diffusers--I think it’s a kind of wood. Somebody smells nice.”

Now that he mentions it, Chuck is pretty sure he’s smelled Liam spritzing that smell around his cubicle before--but Liam’s cubicle is a nightmare of clashing scents and Chuck tries to avoid it as much as possible, so he’s not all that surprised he didn’t remember. Chuck has a good enough nose he picks up on most of the smells that circulate around the department, and nobody can expect him to remember which one that drifts over to him from Liam’s cube is _Citrus Delight_ and which one is... _Cedar...Dismay,_ or whatever the fuck.

Smells are always _way_ more interesting when they’re coming from another person, anyway. Chuck takes another deep breath, closing his eyes, taking a few steps toward the end of the hallway, and then squeaks and backpedals as a fucking _mountain_ of a cadet steps sharply around it and almost slams straight into him.

“Oh, sorry… _guh_ ,” the cadet says, or something like it. Dazed green eyes blink straight across into Chuck's, because the guy is not only twice Chuck's width, he's fully as tall.

“Oh,” the cadet says again, breathing in, and Chuck watches his pupils expand. “Wow. Uh. Hi.”

“...Hi?” says Chuck, and takes an inconspicuous step back, shuffling out of arm’s reach. People get grabby, sometimes, about O-types, although this guy’s scent is also screaming _O_ as loud as it can. Still, the sight of a huge guy in a cadet uniform looking at Chuck like he’s intensely fascinating and possibly edible doesn’t exactly put him at ease. “Uh, we were just--”

“Just on our way back to work!” Liam cuts in smoothly, and insinuates himself between Chuck and the cadet like he’s ready to shield Chuck with all five-foot-something of his body if push comes to shove. The fact that the guy could probably punch Chuck right over Liam’s head and never ruffle his hair apparently doesn’t register. “Can we help you, Cadet--” a quick glance at the name badge, which is pretty much conveniently eye-height for him. “--Merrill?”

Merrill blinks down at him and swallows, breathes in through his nose and _sways_ , just a little. “Right,” he says, and rakes a hand through cadet-short red hair--almost blood red, which is kind of interesting when cadets aren't allowed to dye their hair. “Uh. I dunno.” The hand clenches and tugs distractedly, completing the disheveled look. “Work,” he adds, “right, sorry, uh--” and steps to the side of the corridor so he's not blocking the way with his ridiculous shoulders. He's still staring hungrily from Liam to Chuck, scenting the air not at all surreptitiously.

Alright, yeah, this guy is definitely high on something. God knows how, in the Cadet barracks, but that also explains why he’s out wandering around instead of shacking up in his bunk--he’d get busted in seconds if he walked into the barracks like this. Whatever he took, though, it’s not something Chuck’s ever seen before. He smells so strong, and like...just, _really good…_

“Well,” says Liam, because Liam doesn't have much sense of smell, the lucky bastard-- “Let’s get going, then! Thank you, officer, have a _wonderful_ evening-- Chuck?”

“Huh?” says Chuck. His heart is pounding, but for once it doesn’t feel like fear. He keeps catching on Merrill’s green eyes and the line of his jaw, the breadth of his shoulders. “Uh-huh.”

“What?” says Liam impatiently, and then takes a sniff and, again, catches on a second late. His impatient expression turns startled, curious. “...What…”

Merrill swallows again, scrubs a hand against his thigh. “Sorry,” he mutters, eyes dropping from Chuck's and then flickering back up like he's compelled. “You're, um. You're both O?”

That’s rude enough it jolts Chuck out of his daze. “Uh, wow,” he says, “None of your business?” and then, eyes catching inexorably on the Security badge on Merrill’s chest, “--sir.”

“Oh, no,” Merrill says, “I mean, yeah, but, uh--me too? That's, that's gotta be why you smell so good, right?” His gaze darts from Chuck to Liam and he shifts on his feet in an edgy way that Chuck recognizes, that draws Chuck's gaze down to the front of his uniform slacks, which are looking decidedly tight.

Wow. Wow, okay. Fuck.

Chuck is standing there, poleaxed and trying to figure out if he should be freaked out or not, when Liam nudges him back a little, drawing Merrill’s attention back to him.

“...What if we are both Os?” Liam asks, soft and smokey, and pushes a little flirty rush of salty-sweet interest into the air between them, a considering kind of smell. “You want something, big guy?”

Merrill's eyes go round like he's never had someone flirt with him before, and he just stares open-mouthed for a minute. “Uh,” he says hoarsely. “I. Maybe?”

“Mm,” says Liam thoughtfully, while Chuck stands there and tries not to either burst out laughing or visibly panic. “You’re not pushy, huh?” He comes up to about Merrill’s chest, but when he steps up into the guy’s space the cadet looks way smaller all of a sudden, poleaxed. “...I like that.”

“ _Liam,_ ” says Chuck, because he can’t call himself a good friend if he’s just going to stand here and watch Liam do his best to climb this cadet like a tree. He’s--yeah, he’s hot, and also he really hasn’t been pushy, which is pretty impressive considering how foggy and desperate he looks and smells, but--he’s a _cadet,_ you don’t bang cadets, it’s not how it _works._ No matter how fit they are, or how nice their dick looks through their pants.

It is...kind of interesting, though, how strongly Merrill seems to be affected by every move Liam is making on him. It looks--well, it looks really hot, but also it looks kind of fun. Like, in a slightly mean way, but...

Chuck stands there for a second, agonizing, and then feels his self-control give way in the face of those strong, broad shoulders.

“...We can’t just...give him whatever he wants,” he manages, a little breathlessly, and sees both of them glance up at him, Merrill with a kind of resigned dismay, Liam with interest. “He hasn’t asked nicely yet.”

Merrill's face darkens and he crosses his arms, leaning back against the wall. “Yeah, right,” he says. “Because _that's_ gonna work. Get me to beg and then walk away, forget it.” He hisses softly, his whole body shifting in a sort of constrained writhe, then slumps against the wall, breathing hard. “Not a tech,” he mutters, “but I'm not _that_ dumb.”

“I,” says Chuck, because for one thing wow, okay, he was kind of being a dick but he didn’t expect it to be pointed out, and for another thing _wow._ “--I didn’t say _beg,_ I just said you haven’t asked! Literally, I’d take a ‘hey, wanna fuck?’ I’m not that big of a douche, okay?”

Merrill twitches slightly, then blinks at him, frown beginning to fade.

“Oh my god,” says Liam, despairing, and drops his face into his hands. “You do that _after_ the flirting, though, we were still doing the-- Hon, I love you, but you’re so _bad_ at this. ‘Hey, wanna fuck’-- Jesus, Chuck X, go to your pod.”

Merrill looks between them, that brief flare of sullen anger shifting entirely into bewilderment and then sheepishness. “Oh,” he says, and hunches his shoulders. “Um. Yeah, me too. Bad at it, I mean.” He licks his lips. “Sorry. Please? I mean, can--do, um, do you wanna?”

“That’s okay, hon,” says Liam solicitously. “I can be good at this for all three of us.” He glances up at Chuck, and there’s a hint of concern under the playfulness in his eyes. “...If you’d like to help out. I can handle this by myself if you--”

“No!” Chuck blurts out, and then slams his mouth shut, feeling his face burn. Manages to haul his gaze up to meet Merrill’s and only look a _little_ bit mortified. “I, mean, uh. No, that’s. Uh, yeah, sure. Totally. Thanks for, uh...asking.”

It’s been a while since they hooked up, and Chuck kind of forgot about the bright little wicked glitter in Liam’s eye when he says “-- _Great._ Two on one sounds like more fun anyway. Well, big guy, I’m guessing you don’t want to do this in the barracks, so…” he reaches out, rests a hand on Merrill’s broad chest, hooks a finger through the buttons of his uniform jacket and tugs a little, lowering his voice again. “...Let’s take this back to my pod.”

Wide-eyed, Merrill nods like he's hypnotized. “Okay,” he says, and follows them.

\--

When they start to head back toward Liam’s pod, Chuck isn’t exactly sure about the situation. Like... _hot cadet needs to get dicked down by everyman tech,_ that’s basically a porn setup, and he’d have to be a dumbass not to take advantage of it. But Security is bad news, generally speaking, even relatively harmless, unassuming Security that looks really good in the uniform.

The longer they walk, though, the more that overpowering, needy, eager smell in the air gets to Chuck in kind of a big way. He’s always been sensitive to scents, and this one seems to work its way under his skin and turn him all shivery and hot, breathless. Merrill goes where he’s led, looking dazed and wondering, and Chuck takes the opportunity to do some more ogling of those incredible, broad shoulders, the muscle in his back and arms and the arch of his neck, which Chuck is kind of increasingly desperate to sink his teeth into.

“What did you _take,_ dude?” he manages, when they’re almost to Liam’s pod. “I’ve never heard of a drug that does this, was this some kind of--nasty prank, or what?”

“Wh--no?!” Merrill says. “I didn't take anything, okay! It's just, I'm just--like this sometimes. This is the worst it's ever been, though,” he adds glumly, rumpling his hair with one hand again. “Wasn't this bad yesterday or the day before.”

“Uh...huh.” Chuck frowns, curiosity cutting through the distracted haze of lust. “You’re taking your suppressants though, right? The full dose? ‘Cause that definitely sounds like--”

“Alright, boys,” says Liam, and comes bouncing back down the hallway, grinning. He’s already got his lab coat off, and his scrubs have their top button undone. The flash of pale, delicate throat and sharp collarbone is definitely intentional, as is the wave of eager, hungry scent that’s wafting around him. “Come on, we’ve got a lot to do! Better get started!”

Merrill breathes in and swallows hard, looking kind of fixated on Liam's throat. “Right,” he says vaguely, “yeah.” The rich, spicy scent of cedar and whatever that other part is sweeps out to fill the corridor, calling out, needy and aching. He follows on Liam's heels almost close enough to trip, although he does glance back to check if Chuck is following.

Chuck is definitely following. It’s been a while, like, really a while, since last time he asked somebody for a helping hand, and...wow, he always forgets how much he needs it until something like this happens to remind him. There’s a steady heat gathering in the pit of his stomach, a shivery anticipation.

The pod walls are already set to be opaque, and Liam definitely has the heat turned up a little, enough it’s just a little too warm for clothes. Chuck licks his lips, catches Liam’s eye and then groans and peels off his coat and shirt. “Okay,” he starts, and then immediately regrets it when that makes Merrill blink and glance back and catch sight of him. Chuck is suddenly, painfully aware of how _built_ Merrill is, and how Chuck is more of an awkward scarecrow in scrubs, and the urge to yank his shirt right back on is kind of overpowering.

Merrill either doesn't notice the scarecrow aspect, or he maybe has a thing for scarecrows, because when his wide-eyed gaze slides across Chuck's skin, one hand drifts out like he wants to touch before he snatches it back again, and Chuck's flicker of rising hope is quashed by disappointment. A flush starts on Merrill's face and travels down his neck, and he hastily looks away, jerkily tugging at the buttons of his jacket.

“Here,” says Liam, looking incredibly pleased with himself, and reaches out to get a hold of Merrill’s jacket for him. He doesn’t just start unbuttoning, because he’s a freaking tease--meticulously tugs the tucked ends out, first, then starts at the bottom, one button at a time, smoothing the fabric gleefully over Merrill’s stupidly muscled chest and stomach with every button. Merrill's breath hisses between his teeth and he stands cooperatively still except for the occasional shiver.

Chuck’s mouth is kind of dry, watching. He edges closer, cautious, gets one arm and then the other around the cadet’s chest. It feels like he’s been waiting for a thousand years when he finally gets his face pressed into choppy, blood-red hair, his lips on a thick cord of muscle in the guy’s shoulder. Merrill jerks, tensing, then lets out a little gasping huff of a noise. He smells so _good,_ Chuck wants to just--do everything, anything, take him apart, find out what he likes and never stop.

It’s kind of freaky, how strong the urge is, but hell, it’s not like Chuck’s dick cares. Speaking of which…

“Hey,” says Chuck, and slides a hand carefully past where Liam is taking his sweet time with another button. Nudges his fingers at the guy’s hipbone, and then the waistband of his slacks, and Merrill's hips rock forward, twitchy and involuntary. “...Can I, uh…?”

“Yeah, please,” Merrill gasps. “God, yes.”

“Cool,” says Chuck, which is a ludicrous understatement for how hard that makes his own dick twitch. “Yeah, okay, cool. Uh, here.”

It’s hard to get a guy’s belt undone for him, but at least Chuck’s got hold of him from behind, which makes it a little easier. Chuck gets it open as fast as he can, knowing full well Liam is giving him a judgy look for messing up his teasing game, and gets a hand into Merrill’s pants to cup the shape of his dick through his underwear holy _shit._

“Uh, _wow,_ ” says Chuck, and...gropes, yes, he’s groping a little bit, Merrill jerking and grinding into his hand. “Fuck, dude, I didn’t know everything was, like, to scale, _fuck_. Haha, wow.”

Merrill groans deep in his chest and gasps in a breath. “Oh, you missed the memo,” he says, voice strained, “yeah, KaneCo Tower relocated. Um, you don't, like, you guys don't hafta take it, 's fine,” he adds, glancing anxiously back over his shoulder at Chuck. “Just, y’know, help is good.”

“We don’t _have to_ do any of this,” Liam points out, “--but you’re sweet. We’ll handle who’s putting what where once we’ve got all the options out where we can see them.” He undoes another button, nudges at Chuck’s arm. “Move for a second, hon, let’s get Cadet Merrill _appropriately dressed_.”

Chuck grumbles, but he does kind of definitely want to see Merrill without a shirt on, fuck. He gives one last squeeze to his impressive handful of dick as Merrill moans, and then regretfully pulls his hand away and steps back.

...Or tries to. When he starts to let go, Merrill’s hand snaps up and grabs his wrist, holding on desperately tight, not letting him pull back.

“Please,” Merrill pants, “keep--don't stop, I, it--” breaking off, he makes a shivery, miserable noise, words failing him. Chuck swallows hard--hears Liam make a soft, sympathetic little sound, and hears fabric shift like he’s like he’s patting Merrill’s arm soothingly.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Liam says, and his fingers find the place Merrill is holding Chuck’s wrist, fitting gently in under one finger at a time, coaxing his grip looser. “We just need to get your shirt off, so we can touch you. Is that okay?”

Merrill takes a deep breath and nods, letting go of Chuck. “Yeah, yeah, 's okay, 's good.” He holds his arms out behind him so they can pull the jacket off more easily, leaving just his uniform shirt. Which kind of fits like it's been vacuum-sealed. Maybe they don't make shirts that big, Chuck reflects.

“Arms up,” Liam says, like he’s just taking it for granted that he’s in charge. “Chuck, how about you give him a hand?”

“Is this why you wanted me here?” Chuck says, and he’s trying to grumble but he can’t quite manage it. “I’m just a really tall pair of arms and legs to you, right?”

“You have a couple of other assets I’m interested in,” Liam says airily, and laughs when Chuck pretends to glare at him. “Come on, don’t make him wait.”

“Hypocrite,” says Chuck, without force, and peels the plain white undershirt up Merrill’s stomach, pulls it carefully over his head and--and just for a second, maybe gets distracted by the mental image of twisting it around his wrists, holding him there--but just for a second. It’s pretty exceptional just to find a cadet who’s willing to ask a pair of techs nicely for a hand, let alone who’ll let them take the lead like this; the odds Merrill would ever let them take control away like that are pretty small, and honestly Chuck can’t really blame him.

… _Fuck,_ he’s _built._

Liam is obviously thinking the same thing, because he whistles long and low and smoothes his hands up Merrill’s flushed chest. If he cranes up on his toes he can just wrap his arms around Merrill’s neck, and he seems to be completely thrilled about it.

“Where have _you_ been all my life?” Liam says, a little breathlessly, and kisses the first thing he can reach, which is one collarbone.

“Uh!” says Merrill, looking thoroughly flustered. “You--yeah? Wow.” He shivers, hips twitching forward against Liam. “It's, um, it's Rich, by the way. Don't have to call me Cadet Merrill, 's kinda weird right now, yeah?”

“Liam!” says Liam. “This is--”

“Chuck,” says Merrill--Rich--quickly, like he’s trying to prove he was paying attention. “I heard. Nice to...meet you?”

“Mmmhm,” says Chuck, who’s more occupied with the bare expanse of muscle in Rich’s back than with whatever they’re talking about now. “Uh, yeah. Nice.” The smell is even stronger with Rich’s shirt off, still coaxing, begging, calling. Chuck opens his mouth against solid curve of Rich’s neck and breathes it in, savoring it, feeling his teeth scrape a little against flushed skin.

“ _Hnnh_ ,” Rich says, and shudders. “God. Guys, please, can we, uh, move a little faster maybe?” One hand has settled behind him on Chuck's hip, the other stroking restlessly along Liam's shoulder.

“You’re so _cute,_ ” says Liam, and then, apparently noticing that’s not maybe the best compliment for a cadet who’s at least a foot taller than him, “--think you can pick me up and carry me over there?” He jerks his head back toward the bed, pulls his feet up so he’s hanging off Rich’s shoulders for a second. Chuck can feel the shift of his muscles as Rich takes the weight, but other than that he barely moves.

“Oh, yeah,” Rich says, wrapping both arms around Liam to hold him up, and then abruptly buries his face in Liam's neck, groaning softly. “ _God_ you smell so freaking good.” He reaches the bed in a few long strides and drops onto it with Liam in his lap, then keeps nuzzling into his neck, big hands tugging at Liam's shirt.

“Can I--?”

Liam makes a delighted, shivery noise and settles squarely down straddling Rich’s thighs, raising his arms a little. “ _Hell_ yes,” he says fervently and arches his back, shivering a little, as Rich’s hand frames the curve of his ribs. “Oh-- _oh,_ yes, absolutely.”

“ _Sweet_ ,” Rich says, and doesn't _quite_ rip Liam's scrubs bodily off him. He removes them very efficiently, though, and then strokes his hands down Liam's chest with a kind of glazed look.

Meanwhile, Chuck is standing over here shirtless, just kind of. Watching. Trying not to fidget when he's obviously been forgotten, which isn't exactly a _surprise_ , just…

Rich frowns faintly, looks up and around, catches sight of Chuck. “Hey. Uh, are you…?” He glances hopefully at the bed.

Chuck blinks, startled. “Uh,” he says. “I...I mean if you guys aren’t, um.” God, he’s making it awkward. He’s just about to the point he doesn’t get nervous, doesn’t freeze up when it’s him and one of his friends around the department blowing off some steam--but this is a different thing, and Liam’s always been really good at taking the initiative and Chuck’s just...not. “If you guys wanna be...alone, I can…”

“ _Chuck,_ ” says Liam, distracted from his very vocal demonstration of just how much he’s enjoying being manhandled. “We _definitely_ don’t want to be alone. Or at least, I don’t, and I’m pretty sure Mr. Kane Co Tower here was enjoying how good you are with your hands.” He beckons, and Chuck groans, face burning, and then shuffles forward and perches on the edge of the bed self-consciously, trying and failing to tear his eyes away from the narrow arch of Liam’s spine and the solid breadth of Rich’s bare torso.

“Sweet,” Rich says again breathlessly, and reaches out to run a hand down Chuck's chest. Chuck twitches, breath hitching; the air seems hot and thick as he tries to catch his breath, Rich’s hand feels almost burning hot.

“Ahhhahaha,” he says, and then closes his mouth fast and hard and chews on his lip instead.

Well, there’s one thing he knows will go over well. Chuck scoots in closer, waiting for any sign he should stop--gets himself pressed up against Rich’s back, and reaches down between Rich and Liam to rub the heel of his hand gently against Rich’s dick.

Rich's hips buck and he whines through his teeth. Gasping for breath, he scrabbles to get his underwear down, shoves them and his pants low enough to get the full, kind of intimidating length of his dick out. He squeezes it with one hand, panting.

“So, can we, like, do something? I'm kind of, I really wanna…”

“Aww,” says Liam, and kneels up on Rich’s thighs to kiss him, bite his lip and suck on it. “Here--oh wow, you weren’t kidding, were you?” He shuffles back on his knees, wraps a slim hand around Rich’s dick and gives a firm, steady squeeze, lip pinned in his teeth as Rich buckles around his hand and makes a croaky, needy noise. “--I’m _definitely_ gonna ride this. Lie down.”

“Wha?” Rich says, sounding kind of drunk, and then shakes himself and stares at Liam. “Man, are you _serious?_ It's not gonna fit, you're _tiny!_ ”

“I know what I’m about,” says Liam, with dignity, and gives him a little shove--then, when that doesn’t seem to yield any noticeable results, gets a hold of one nipple and gives it a stern pinch. Rich twitches, still staring. “I said _lie down_ , oh you of little faith, Liam Beaker never backs down from a challenge.”

“Even when he should,” Chuck says. “Dude, I’m kind of on his side--”

“Never. Backs. Down.” Liam repeats, and pinches again. “Come on, big guy, seeing is believing. I’m guessing you don’t have any problems with Chuck eating you out, at least?”

Seeing Rich blush with his shirt off is kind of something, because it doesn't just stop at his neck or his upper chest, it just _keeps going_. His _arms_ turn red, and his thighs above where they're hidden by his pants.

Wide green eyes dart back to Chuck's face and shyly away and Rich just keeps flushing darker. “Um. I guess not?” he mumbles very quietly.

Liam thinks everybody is cute, but Chuck is actually inclined to agree with him this time, that’s...adorable. And now that Liam’s mentioned it, Chuck can practically feel his mouth watering. But…

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t,” he says, with a pretty valiant effort. “That’s cool too. Uh. I’m pretty good with, I mean.”

“He’s _really_ good with his mouth,” Liam says, because he’s a terrible friend and he just says things sometimes, out loud, with his mouth. Like a traitor. “I promise he’s into it, if you are.”

Rich swallows, looking back and forth between them. “I guess? Um. It--we can try it? My dick's kind of more, um, needs it more. But whatever, let's do it, sure.” He grabs his pants around his thighs and looks at Liam, who's still perched on his lap in the way of getting them off.

“Oh, don’t worry about your dick,” Liam says. “ _I’ll_ worry about your dick. I just don’t see any reason why we can’t take care of both at the same time.” He clambers off Rich’s legs, and Chuck takes the opportunity to help the guy out of his pants. Definitely just to be helpful, and not so he can run his hands over Rich’s thickly muscled thighs on the way down.

He’s _really_ handsome, lying there naked. Flushing almost as bright as his hair, breathing fast and smelling like want. Chuck can’t help the faint, helpless moan he lets out at the sight, and the smell pulls him forward, driving him along as he gives Rich’s knee a prompting little push and shimmies down onto his elbows.

“--No foreplay, even,” Liam sighs somewhere overhead, except then he’s crowding in next to Chuck’s side, lowering his head to take Rich in his mouth with a quiet, slick sound that’s almost muffled by the broken, hitching cry Rich makes.

It only takes a gentle push to get Rich to shift his leg after that, and the angle is kind of awkward but it doesn’t seem like this is going to take long anyway. Rich's slit isn’t all that wet, but maybe he’s just a slow starter, because he definitely smells like he wants it, eager and hopeful and still just a touch nervous. His smell is delicious and _everywhere,_ filling up all of Chuck’s senses as he licks in and around and in, curling his tongue. Rich lets out little gasping noises, hips twitching and shivering like he can't decide if he wants to thrust up or push down onto Chuck's tongue. A big hand gropes down and finds Chuck's hair, and he hears Liam moan happily like Rich is touching him too. Hears the ragged edge to Rich’s breathing a second before the thigh Chuck is leaning on goes tense as wire and he’s coming, hips rolling against both of them hard enough Chuck has to pin him with his full weight to avoid getting kneed in the face.

Finally the guy goes slack on the bed, panting, his breath catching when an aftershock shudders through him. “Oh wow,” he says. “That's. Wow. That was amazing. Like, really, really good.” Another shudder goes through him, and then he nibbles his lip. “So… do you guys _like_ doing that, I mean, with--mouths, on--” he waves an inarticulate hand, “--or is that just, um, better for me?”

“I mean, we definitely do like that,” Liam says, “--but if this is what it looks like, I think the best thing we can give you is going to be the part where I ride you like I stole you.” And then before Rich can really respond to that, “--But any kind of getting off is good when you’re in rut.”

Chuck blinks, going still halfway through wiping off his face on the back of one hand. Rut, huh? Well, that’s--wow. And that would explain why the guy wasn’t wet, too, and why he found two O-types to ride it out with, since O ruts with O. Chuck’s heard of people having rut or heat so strong it breaks through the suppressants, but he was pretty sure that was an urban legend, or at least a case of general wishful thinking.

Rich shifts on the bed, wriggling a little. “I mean,” he says, a little uncomfortably, and crosses his arms over his flushed chest. He probably definitely doesn’t mean that to make his biceps stand out like that, or his pecs, but-- _fuck._ “Yeah, it definitely was good, but like--it _can't_ be rut, can it? Not the real thing, I'm on suppressants, like everybody! I mean, okay, _obviously_ they're not as effective on me as they're supposed to be, but that doesn't mean they're not working at _all_ , right?”

“Oh, no, they’re definitely working a little bit,” says Liam, and Chuck buries his face in Rich’s aggravatingly impressive abs with a groan. He’s very familiar with Liam’s _Interesting Biochemistry Fact_ voice. “But those doses are calculated for ‘Average Deluxian Adult; Male-Presenting’. You’re _definitely_ not an average Deluxian. Unfortunately.” He pats Rich’s thigh appreciatively. “--I’m also not an average Deluxian, that’s why I can only eat half of my dosage of daily nutrition, or the hormone load--”

“ _Anyway,_ ” says Chuck, because they’re getting dangerously close to “where do you get the rest of your calorie intake, then?” territory, and getting arrested for illegal imports would _really_ put a crimp in this whole unfairly sexy situation. “It’s probably not full rut, it’s probably pseudorut, but it’s still going to respond to the same stuff.”

“Yes, that’s what I said,” Liam says, and grins up at Rich, eyes dark and glittering, hair mussed up and lips flushed. It’s a pretty nice picture, and Chuck can’t blame the guy at all for the way he blushes again, looking kind of dazed as he grins back.

“Pseudorut,” he says belatedly, grin fading to a dubious look. “So, like… what's the difference from the real thing?”

“Not as long, not as intense,” Liam says brightly. He’s already sizing up Rich’s dick again, looking intrigued. “This could be a lot worse!”

“Dang,” Rich says, staring blankly at the ceiling. “That's, that'd be. A lot. I guess it's a good thing we've got suppressants, geez.” He shakes his head, dismissing the topic, and leans up on his elbows, looking from Liam to Chuck with an uncertain lip nibble. “So, um. You--should I--um. Can I help you out?” His blush darkens.

Chuck and Liam make brief eye contact. Chuck opens his mouth, closes it again, gives Liam a helpless kind of look.

“Well,” says Liam, “--I mean, mm. What do you know how to do?” And then, brightening, “--or do you have anything you want to learn?”

Rich opens his mouth, closes it again, and finishes turning completely red. Chuck can't help glancing back, and yeah, it goes all the way down to the guy's feet.

“I can, y’know, do handjobs and stuff,” Rich says with a half shrug and an admirable attempt at a casual tone. “Maybe you should just, uh, tell me what you like?”

“Uh,” says Chuck, and licks his lips. Gets briefly distracted by the smell in the air, the taste. “I mean…”

Liam glances back at him and quirks an eyebrow at him. Chuck glares back at him.

“Well, if you’re still thinking about that,” Liam says, and grabs Rich’s hand, turns it over, sizing it up. “...I’m gonna need something to warm me up for your dick.”

“It’s not, uh,” Chuck says.

“We can just make Chuck wait until later,” says Liam, and wiggles his eyebrows at Chuck some more. Chuck’s face goes really hot, really fast.

“Fight me, Beaker,” he mumbles.

“Blow me, Chuckles,” Liam says sweetly, and looks back at Rich. “Yes?”

Rich swallows, looking poleaxed all over again, and his eyes drift from Liam's face to the tight front of his pants. “Yeah,” he says, voice hoarse, “I can definitely do that, or like--I'm not sure that's gonna be enough?” He eyes his own dick a minute, already valiantly attempting to rise again. “But I can totally help, yeah. But, uh,” he looks at Chuck, “you shouldn't have to wait, I mean, we can do something for you too. Right?” He looks back at Liam.

“Anything’s, uh. Fine,” says Chuck, strangled. “Handjobs are. Good. That’s good, that’s fine?” It sounds incredibly lame and needy to say _I just want you to touch me, I just want to feel wanted._

“...Chuck,” says Liam, pained. “I’ll list a bunch of stuff you like for him if you want. Would that help? Do you want me to--”

“No!” Chuck says, more squeakily than he means to. “Okay, fine, look, if you can just-- Can you just, I dunno, you’re big, just...get on top and…” he waves his hands incoherently, face burning. “Touch-- Uh, me.”

Rich tilts his head, starting to look intrigued. “Yeah? You'd like that?” He sits up, lifts himself up on his hands to pull his legs back and fold them under him in one smooth, rapid move, somehow without kicking or kneeing anyone in the process. Damn cadets and their kinesthetic sense and athletic bodies. Chuck’s eyes stick directly to the flex and shift of all that muscle, and his mouth goes really dry.

“Nnhngh,” he says, and then swallows hard and shakes it off. “I mean, it’s, sure. I mean, it’s--fine! Ha!” Smooth, Chuck, god. “Yes, I’d...like that, sure, nobody’s really...bigger than me, usually, so.”

Rich frowns for a second, then gets a look of realization and nods, that look of intrigue growing. “Huh,” he says, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, and a sharp little note of excitement enters the thick cloud of his scent as he looks Chuck over. Then his eyes widen and he looks back at Liam, back to Chuck, and shakes his head. “Shoot, I can't--I need two of me!”

“My fingers aren’t as big as yours,” Liam says, and then flops back against the head of the bed, looking from one of them to the other--shimmies his hips up and starts working his pants off enthusiastically. “...But I’m _definitely_ fine with watching. I can make do, don’t mind me!”

Rich licks his lips, distracted and pink-cheeked as Liam's underwear come down, then blinks and hastily looks back up at his face. “Yeah? Cool. I'll get to you, promise.” Rich hesitates a second, then sort of lunges over and drops a peck on Liam's lips. His ears are bright red. When he starts to pull away, Liam grabs his shoulder and a handful of his hair and kisses him back, hard and deep and dirty, almost toppling both of them over.

By the time he pulls away a minute later and drops back down, looking incredibly satisfied with himself, Rich is breathing like he's been running, flushed and flustered and halfway hard already. He pants a second, huffs softly, shaking his head, and kind of _turns_ on Chuck, eyes bright and hungry.

“Okay,” he says, grabs Chuck under the arms, big hands gripping and lifting him almost without effort, and lays him out on the bed by Liam's legs. Then he stretches out beside Chuck, looming over him with want and interest hanging in the air all around them.

“Like this?” Rich asks, apparently in all seriousness.

Chuck opens his mouth, still kind of reeling from just being-- _picked up_ like that, just _moved_ \--and makes a kind of strangled whimpering sound instead of answering. Reaches out, gets a hold of Rich’s leg and pulls jerkily until Rich gets the message and swings it over, a solid, immoveable weight pinning him down on all sides.

“Fuck,” says Chuck, job done, and stares Rich up and down, rocks his hips a little from side to side to feel them pinned between Rich’s knees. “Ahh-- _fuck_.”

Rich flinches, the pleased look giving way to a wary crease between his brows. “Can you not, right now? I've been trying to deal, y’know, but--just for now, while I'm like, right here?”

“Not,” Chuck repeats, distracted from dying of how hot this is by sudden, sharp worry. Dammit, of course he made it weird, what did he fuck up this time? “Not--not what?”

Rich blinks down at him and sighs. “Uncivil conduct? Obscene speech? I mean I'm not gonna like _report_ you or anything,” he adds, looking uncomfortable, “just. Maybe lay off for a while?”

For about half a panicked second Chuck goes absolutely frozen, trying to think back--what he’s said, what he’s done, if there was anything incriminating or seditious--he forgot Merrill was a cadet, for a stupid second. Stupid-- _Mike,_ this is all Mike’s fault, probably, somehow. Chuck’s seen firsthand how much it sucks for cadets to hear foul language like that, and he definitely hasn’t been watching his mouth this whole time, like, at all.

“Oh,” says Chuck, about three seconds late. Squirms again, not for hot reasons this time, pinned under the guy he just fucked up with and fighting the urge to curl up in a ball and cover his face with his hands. “I, sorry, sh-- Sorry. I forgot--sorry. I’ll, uh...try not to--shoot, sorry.”

Merrill relaxes at that, smiles ruefully. “'S okay, man.” He shrugs. “You're a tech, everyone knows techies are kind of…” he pauses, obviously looking for a polite way to say _obscene and disorderly_ , “...forget about that stuff sometimes.” He nibbles his lip, eyeing the way Chuck has, admittedly, kind of pulled into himself, tight and unhappy and still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Merrill reaches up with one big hand, brushes Chuck's bangs out of his eyes.

“Hey,” he murmurs, and leans down, noses Chuck's chin up and gently nips his throat.

A little sting of heat cuts into the fog of angry, self-conscious misery--not enough to dispel it, but startling and--god, so much nicer-feeling. Chuck jumps a little, then squirms, hands working fitfully at the blankets. Presses his lips tight and turns his head, not quite okay again yet, struggling with the urge to give up on trying and just go wallow for a while in how much it sucks to mess up.

Merrill--Rich--doesn't give up on him, though, doesn't quit. He sucks gently at one spot, then nips a little lower, nuzzles and licks and kisses--and then groans low in his chest and sucks fiercely, hard enough there's absolutely gonna be a mark. The heat at that thought, and the sting of the bites, smooths over enough of the remaining rough edges in Chuck’s brain for him to move again, hands finding Rich’s forearms, his biceps, clinging on. He’s aware again, suddenly, that he’s still got his pants on, that Rich is definitely in the closest thing he’s ever seen to rut, and goddammit they were having _fun_. Can still be having fun.

Next time Rich sucks at his throat Chuck lets himself shudder, lets out a shaky sigh and then moans hot and soft against Rich’s temple. If he takes deep breaths he can taste that amazing hot cedar in the air, and it’s easier to focus on that than on feeling bad. Easier to lie back and let the heat wash back over him..

Rich moans back, finally pulls away from Chuck's neck and kisses him hard. He's too fervent to be really great at it, but it's not the worst kiss Chuck's had either, and Rich's desperation kind of makes up for a lot.

“God,” Rich mutters, nosing at Chuck's jaw again and breathing in, “you smell so _good_ , this is so cool.” He bites Chuck's neck and then straightens up, scoots back to straddle Chuck's thighs. “Can I, uh?” he says, tugging at the waist of Chuck's pants.

“Mm,” says Liam softly, and his free hand touches Chuck’s face, traces his cheek. “Yeah, can he? We wanna see you, hon, you’re so cute.”

That’s patently a lie, but it’s a lie that sounds really nice, and it comes with big, warm hands bracing his hips and tugging hopefully at his jeans and-- “--Yeah,” Chuck is gasping, before he has time to second-guess himself, “Yes, okay? Yeah.”

“ _Nice,_ ” says Liam, and shifts, breath hitching a little. Chuck can’t see what he’s doing, especially not with his eyes still squeezed shut, but he can smell the familiar faint, sharp smell, like a tropical beach out of some kind of ancient movie, fruit and warm salt and _comfort._ A hand petting his hair. “Do you wanna do it, or do you still want him to manhandle you around a little?”

Chuck groans, nods hopefully.

“I’m gonna hold your wrists.”

“F--” Chuck starts, and chokes the word off, just moans instead.

“ _Oh_ ,” Rich says in a quiet tone of revelation, like he didn't get it before Liam went and spelled it out. Chuck is distantly embarrassed at that, but honestly too turned on to care. He writhes a little, gets out, “Liam--” in a shaking half-moan.

“I know,” Liam says, and pets him some more, soothing. “Lie back and _relax_ already. We’ve got it all under control.”

“Yeah,” Rich says, and opens Chuck's pants, shifting off him to get a hand under his lower back and just casually lift like half his body off the bed _one-handed_ , tugging his pants and briefs off his hips with the other hand. By the time Chuck gets over his shock, Liam has a firm grip on his wrists already, and then Rich sets him down and pulls his pants the rest the way off.

Rich pauses to look Chuck over, gaze lingering between his legs, and then he--a guy that size shouldn't be able to _slink_ , but it's the best word Chuck can think of to describe the smooth way he uncoils up the bed to cover Chuck's body with his own. His hard dick rubs along Chuck's and he moans. Chuck is moving before he has time to think about it, arms tensing as he tries to reach down and--he’s not even sure, touch himself, touch Rich, it doesn’t matter, because Liam’s small but he’s leaning his full weight on Chuck’s hands and he has no intention of going anywhere. Chuck struggles for a second, then subsides with an embarrassingly loud, breathless whimper.

“Nnh,” Rich gasps. “ _God_ you're hot.” He glances up at Liam, back at Chuck. “Are all techs like this, or am I just like, incredibly lucky?”

“There are some very good ones out there,” Liam says, and shifts his weight, presses a knee down on Chucks’ wrists instead of a hand. When he keeps talking he sounds a lot more breathless; there are quiet, slick sounds near Chuck’s head, half-hidden under the sound of LIam’s voice. “--You did definitely get-- _mm_ , very lucky, though, big guy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Chuck says, high and squawky, and gives an uneven, croaky laugh. “Cream of the crop! Fu--hh _ha,_ shoot, I mean--ah, dude, come on…”

“I mean, I kinda figured, yeah,” Rich says, shaking himself to stop staring fixedly at what Liam's doing. He nuzzles Chuck's neck instead, kisses his jaw, nips his earlobe. “You guys are like, crazy sexy, and all small and pretty and--I mean, not small,” he adds hastily, looking at Chuck. “Um. Like, cute and slim? Not, y’know,” he shrugs sheepishly, “easy to disguise as one side of KaneCo Tower if you just wear white.”

Chuck laughs again--not a pretty noise, kind of cracked and jagged. “Yeah,” he says, “--’s a nice way to say _scrawny_ , haven’t heard that one bef-- _hha_ , mm. God.” He arches his neck a little, hopeful, feeling the marks from Rich’s mouth tingle and ache all up and down his throat. Rich frowns, but obligingly nips again.

“Neither of us is scrawny, hon,” says Liam, and pats Chuck’s chest reprovingly. His hand is kind of damp, which is gross in theory but mostly makes some animal part of Chuck’s brain purr hopefully. “I’m a gorgeous and _very_ fun-sized piece of ass, and you’re very picturesque. Legs for days. Take your compliments and deal with it.”

“But,” says Chuck, and then squeaks at an embarrassing frequency as Liam tweaks one of his nipples in reproof. “Dude!”

“ _Hnnh,_ ” Rich says, staring at Liam's hand with a glazed look as he scents the air. He shifts down Chuck's body enough to get his mouth on that nipple and licks, then sucks like it's his mission to get Liam's flavor off Chuck's skin.

Liam make a soft, startled sound over Chuck’s head, and then a thoughtful one, almost drowned out by the amount of flustered noise Rich is wringing out of Chuck. The hand on Chuck’s chest pulls away and then comes back again, covered in Liam’s scent-- He nudges Rich’s chin, his jaw, and Chuck makes a complaining kind of whine as Rich jerks up, following the smell, leaving Chuck to writhe and shiver helplessly under their combined weight. It felt so _good_ and now it’s _stopped_ and he doesn’t even really have the mental capacity to be embarrassed by how bad he wants more, right now.

Rich is licking Liam's fingers, along them, between them, and then Liam slides a couple into Rich's mouth and Rich's eyes half-lid, cheeks hollowing as he sucks, humming quiet and pleased. His dick presses against Chuck's thigh, hot and slick at the tip, rocking a little as his hips shift restlessly.

“Wow,” murmurs Liam, and slides another finger into Rich’s mouth, makes a breathless sound when Rich just hums in satisfaction. “...Are all cadets like this, or are we just lucky?”

Rich goes still, eyes opening wide, and makes a puzzled little noise around Liam's fingers. “Mm--” he says, and pulls off. “You, um. I'm pretty sure any of them would be just as, uh, enthusiastic as me,” he says, flushing. “And they're, like. A lot better-looking, mostly--”

Liam sighs, leans forward over Chuck and presses his fingers gently but inexorably back into Rich’s mouth, cutting him off. Rich startles, not pulling back but not leaning into it either; Liam pulls back, strokes his lips, pushes back in again, focused and steady.

“You two are some of the handsomest boys I’ve ever met,” he says, quiet but very, very firm. “You’re gorgeous, and I’m not going to sit here and listen to either of you trash-talk yourselves. Alright?”

“Mm,” Rich hums around his fingers, and nods, eyes on Liam's face. The hints of sour unhappiness and shame that were starting to thread through his scent dissipate, clashing scents all coming back together into that warm, perfect rush of _want, need._ Chuck groans and wriggles a little, hopefully--his dick keeps brushing up against Rich’s belly, and it’s great, but it’s basically nothing and he’s dying.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, either,” Liam says, amused, and shifts his weight, pinning Chuck’s wrists a little more firmly before pulling his spit-slick fingers free and reaching down to play with the other nipple. Chuck catches his breath and moans, and Liam raises his voice, talking over him. “I swear, some beautiful boy with no self esteem is going to be the death of me, someday.”

Chuck can’t help himself--he snorts at the word “beautiful’, then yelps when Liam promptly flicks him in response. “Ow! Dude!”

“I didn’t come here to top anybody, but so help me god,” says Liam, and settles himself back on his haunches, still pinning Chuck’s hands, going back to making those soft, slick noises in Chuck’s peripheral vision. “Rich seems like a sweetheart, don’t make me punish your butt in front of this new friend we’re making.”

Normally that’s a joke when he says it, with the full knowledge that anything he could try to do to Chuck, Chuck could probably stop him from doing with one hand. Tonight, though, there’s a guy as tall as Chuck and twice as broad pinning him to a bed, his entire everything is _aching_ and the joke feels a lot more real than usual. Chuck takes a shaky little breath and nods jerkily, eyes fixed over Rich’s shoulder so he doesn’t have to make eye contact with the guy. Or imagine anything stupid, like big hands holding him pinned while Liam edges him until he cries.

Rich's eyes widen when Liam says the word “punish”, and he eyes them both uncertainly for a second before his attention is caught by what Liam's doing and his eyes go dazed and dark again. He groans, hips rocking down against Chuck, and drops to get his mouth on Chuck's skin again, sucking and nipping and rubbing his face into Chuck's chest. He gets Chuck's other nipple into his mouth and sucks, grazes it with his teeth, licks and sucks some more. His weight holds Chuck down from his knees to his shoulders, and Liam is still pressing down on his hands, and all Chuck can do is arch his back into Rich’s mouth and make hopeful amounts of incoherent noise--it’s _amazing._

When Rich eventually pulls back, he looks kind of wild-eyed and his quick breathing rasps. He licks one hand wet, shifts to line up his dick with Chuck's, wraps his hand around both of them and starts stroking, burying his face in Chuck's neck. Chuck jerks, hands working--he has to do _something,_ dig his nails into Rich’s back, hold onto his hair, pet the back of his neck, _something_. But he can’t, he can’t do any of that, he’s just-- _taken,_ pinned, at their mercy. The most he can do is strain his neck to kiss Rich’s temple, nip the rim of his ear, make appreciative noises into his hair.

Rich moans, hips bucking into his hand, grinding down on Chuck. He sucks sloppily at Chuck's neck, bites at his jaw, sucks on his lower lip and kisses him hard and needy. He's not coming fast like he did the first time, but Chuck can feel the tension stringing his whole massive body taut against Chuck's, the shivering tightness in all those muscles as Rich holds himself up on one arm, his other hand working between them.

“Smell so good,” Rich pants, nosing into the other side of Chuck's neck so he can mark that up too. “Sound so hot, you look so good, just wanna-- _mmh_ ,” he trails off in a groan, and bites down.

It’s taking pretty much all of Chuck’s brainpower not to either blurt out some words that will seriously ruin the mood, or to come pretty much immediately. He compromises between the two by grinding into Rich’s hand and kind of stream-of-consciousness babbling. Something about how good they smell and how good it feels and how he wants it, needs them so bad, please, please, _please_ \--

“ _God_ ,” Rich says, and then it's just moans and harsh panting against Chuck's neck as Rich's hand moves quicker, grip almost too tight until he tenses even more, hips jerking and shivering, wet heat spattering across Chuck's chest. The heavy scent of cedar, salt and musk fills Chuck's nose.

Rich shudders all over and lets go, and then his hand wraps around Chuck's dick alone and strokes. Liam is making soft noises, a hand petting Chuck’s hair, and it only takes a minute or two before Chuck is arching up off the bed and coming apart with a bright, shaking half-scream of ecstasy.

Liam moans softly, weight shifting restlessly as Chuck shudders back down. Murmurs something incoherent and comforting and strokes his cheekbone and the corner of his jaw. He’s saying something about how _you’re so pretty, you’re both amazing, that’s so good, good job._

Rich slumps, half-lying on Chuck as they both catch their breath. Even half of Rich is really heavy, he was being careful not to rest his full weight on Chuck before.

“God,” he mumbles again finally, and bumps his cheek against Chuck's jaw, glancing at him almost shyly. He hesitates a second before cautiously leaning in and kissing Chuck, gentle and unsure. Chuck kisses him back, strains after Rich’s mouth when he pulls away, and then yanks his hands free as Liam laughs and sits back; pulls himself up off the bed and kind of plasters himself against Rich to keep kissing him, still shuddering through aftershocks. Rich moans into it, startled and pleased, and kisses intently back, his non-sticky hand between Chuck's shoulder blades.

“Not to be pushy,” says Liam, and he’s obviously trying to sound unconcerned, but mostly he sounds kind of strained and breathless. “But this has all been really hot, and whenever anybody’s got a second--”

“Crap, yeah, sorry,” Rich says, tearing himself away from Chuck with one last nip to his lower lip, and crawls up to Liam. “I'm sorry, you're both so hot,” he says, waving a frustrated hand, “I need more hands or something! Here.” He picks Liam up and sits him in his lap. “This okay?” he asks, one hand edging between Liam's thighs but not touching yet.

“Yes, come on obviously, _yes,_ ” Liam says, and somehow manages to get his legs farther apart, grinding down on Rich’s hand. “You’re not done yet, are you? Still good?”

Rich gives a startled snort of laughter, sliding one thick finger into Liam, his other hand on Liam's side, steadying. “Uh, yeah, definitely not done.” Liam squirms for more and Rich obliges with a second finger, then starts pumping them into him.

Chuck flops over onto his side and watches lazily, enjoying the way Rich’s hands fit on Liam’s body, the hungry way he rides Rich’s fingers. “Y’know,” he says, self-consciousness softened by the lingering warmth of coming. “You should give him another finger, he really likes a challenge.”

“I _do,_ ” Liam agrees breathlessly, and moans into the crook of Rich’s shoulder, shuddering. “Fff-- Heck, yes, ha. _Yes._ ”

“'Kay,” Rich says, nuzzling distractedly into Liam's neck, and carefully nudges a third finger in, slowing the movement of his hand to give Liam time to adjust. Humming a hungry noise, Rich breathes in deep and then nips, sucks at Liam's throat.

“ _Mark me up,_ ” Liam groans, and digs his nails in, presses his cheek into Rich’s neck and breathes him in. “That’s so good, you’re _so_ good--”

“Mmh, god,” Rich mumbles, shivering, and sets to it with a will, nipping and sucking and leaving a trail of dark red marks up his neck. His hand quickens with his excitement, that thumb sliding up and down the base of Liam's dick as Rich pumps into him. Chuck flops over onto his other side, rests his cheek on Rich’s thigh and gets a hand into the space between them to mess idly with Liam’s dick, grinning as he messes up Liam’s rhythm and a hand swats absently at Chuck’s head and shoulders.

“Okay,” Liam gasps, after a few seconds, and shoves Chuck’s hand away, giving him a very unconvincing glare. His tan face is flushed, his hair has come out of its careful tumble of curls to hang into his face, and Rich’s fingers are gleaming-slick where they’re still sliding in and out of him, an obscene spread from the angle Chuck’s lying at. Fuck, why are all of Chuck’s friends so hot?

“Okay,” Liam says again, a little firmer but still breathless and wobbly. “That’s--enough of, that’s good, let’s do this, c’mere big guy.”

“Uh,” Rich says, hand going still between Liam's legs. He gives a kind of panicky glance down at his dick, which is lying half-hard on his thigh. “It might, um, take another minute?”

“Aw,” says Liam, apparently charmed, and licks his lips, eyes roaming up and down Rich’s body. “...Well, we’ll just have to encourage you a little bit. Let’s see. What else do you like…?”

“Oh, hey,” says Chuck, and gets himself upright to drape himself over Rich’s back. “I’ve got a guess, I think--here--”

Liam sits back, still idly riding Rich’s fingers, and watches as Chuck gets a hand on Rich’s hair, his jaw, tilts Rich’s head to one side and gets his mouth on one of Rich’s ears. He tugs with his teeth and then sways a little and has to hold on, breathing hard against Rich’s ear and the side of his neck. The nip gets a soft little huff, but as Chuck clings, breath washing over Rich's skin, Rich shudders and lets out a shaky moan. His head tilts a little further, cooperative and hopeful.

Chuck considers this, then leans back in and sucks instead, keeping his mouth gentle this time. That gets a full-throated whimper. Rich’s dick is obviously still recovering, even if it twitches noticeably when Chuck licks the rim of Rich's ear, so Chuck ignores it, gets a hand down between his thighs and strokes a few fingers gently past his slit--still mostly dry, but apparently sensitive enough to make Rich shudder again, hips twitching.

“God,” he mutters, breathing hard. “You guys are just--this is-- _nnh_ , crazy, 's so good.”

“You’re sweet,” says Liam brightly, and pats Rich’s cheek. “Call me vain, but I could stand to hear more about how cute and sexy I am, even if Chuck’s going to be a downer about it.”

“You are,” Rich gasps as Chuck keeps doing what he's doing, since it seems be working. “You really, seriously-- _ah!_ _God_ \--are! S-sexy, an’ hot, you're both really really cute, an'-- _hhh_ \--” He cuts off as Chuck drags his teeth very gently over Rich's earlobe, and Rich makes a shivery keening sound. Even Chuck's fingers teasing carefully between his legs don't seem to be affecting him as much.

“ _Hahh_ , nh, okay,” Rich says, breathless and strained. “I'm, we can, yeah, let's try this.” Oh, look at that, his dick has caught up, excellent.

“Don’t mind if I _do_ ,” says Liam, and gives Chuck a brief, bright-eyed look, grinning. He looks all lit up, exhilarated, because Liam may be a sweet, conscientious mom-friend most of the time, but as soon as he gets in the bedroom it turns out he’s a crazy person and lives for doing wild stuff like taking a dick that looks big enough to split him in half. Why does Chuck always end up friends with the crazy thrill junkies?

Well, never let it be said that Chuck isn’t a helpful wingman, at least. He can’t stop the crazy people in his life so he might as well be helpful about it.

“...Lie down, dude,” Chuck murmurs, close enough his lips brush Rich’s ear, and gives his shoulders a gentle tug.

“Right, yeah,” Rich says, shivering, pulls his hand away from between Liam's legs, flops onto his back, and shoves his slick fingers in his mouth to suck them clean like they're sugar glazed. His pupils are wide and dark in his green eyes, fixed hungrily on Liam.

“Still can’t believe you’re real,” sighs Liam happily, and slides up into Rich’s lap. He reaches down between them and Rich tenses, breath going fast with obvious anticipation, but Liam doesn’t ride him yet; he just slots their hips together and grinds slow and luxurious, slides the wet heat of his slit along Rich’s dick without actually taking him. Rich groans.

“...Maybe I should just do this,” Liam says, mock-thoughtful, and rolls his hips again with a showy moan of pleasure. “ _Mm_ , unless you wanted something else…?”

Rich groans louder in complaint, pulls his fingers out of his mouth. “Man,” he says breathlessly, “I thought you were, _nnh_ , you like a challenge! That doesn't look super challenging, there.”

Liam’s eyebrows go up, his delighted grin goes just a little bit wicked. “Sometimes, the challenge is patience,” he says, with dignity, and slides back and forth, back and forth, filling the air with the smell of surf and sugar. “...I’ve got such a nice dick at my disposal, I’d like to see how long we can hold out, together.” He hums thoughtfully, traces a fingertip past the tip of Rich’s dick and smiles at him. “...Just like this,” he finishes, soft and breathy, and licks his lips. “...Might _take_ a while.”

Rich whimpers, eyes round. His body is tense and quivering, hips jittering up off the bed at Liam's every move. His hands are clamped on Liam's thighs, fingertips digging in desperately.

“Seriously?” he moans. “I thought, I'm, can-- _please?_ ”

Liam practically _purrs,_ runs his tongue over his lips and his thumb over the head of Rich’s dick again in deliberate unison. Chuck had some brief thoughts of maybe playing around with Rich a little, trying to help out, but now he’s just kind of frozen, breathless as Liam rocks in place and shudders. ”That’s pretty convincing,” Liam says, low and hungry, and shudders as the jerk of Rich’s hips all but lifts him off the bed. “--Easy, big guy, you’re doing _perfectly_ , it sounds so good when you say it. Tell me, tell me you want me.”

The moan cracks in Rich's throat. “God, please! I want you, okay? I--” his eyes go to Chuck's face, back to Liam's, “you're so hot, I, can we, just--?”

“That’s right,” Liam says, and swallows hard, lifts himself up on his knees and takes hold of Rich’s dick, finally guiding it to his slit. “Now, you just...hold still for me...ah-- _ah,_ god-- Hold nice...and... _still_.” He works himself a little further onto Rich with every word, and Rich bites down on his lip and lies rigidly still, breathing hard.

“Careful,” Rich says, sounding strained. “Go easy, don't push it. _Hnh_ , geez.”

Liam just laughs breathlessly and keeps going, head tipping back and eyes falling almost shut. He doesn’t quite manage to take the whole thing--gets almost all the way down before a brief, tight shudder of discomfort runs through him and he has to stop, moaning faint and continuous on every breath. Just kneeling there, still, breathing, like he’s savoring the feeling. He looks absolutely beatific, and Chuck--maybe squirms a little, cautious interest overcoming common sense.

“Next--” Liam murmurs, and shudders, losing the word. “Nnnext time, this happens, you can come find me, I’ll be _ready_ , I want you to pin me up against a wall and--” he lifts up and pushes back down sharply, voice breaking into a cracked, desperate cry. Does it again, and again, getting into the rhythm of it, until he’s moving fast and hard, gasping with every inhale and making a filthy, needy sound on every exhale.

Chuck catches the startled look crossing Rich's face at _come find me_ , and the amazed tinge to his expression doesn't go away even as pleasure takes over. Those big hands rest on Liam's thighs and Rich shivers, hips rolling just a little, constrained, letting Liam control how fast and how deep he goes, and all the while Rich stares up at Liam, almost looking awed. He's moaning hoarse and low under all Liam's noise, and after a minute one hand lifts to wrap around Liam's dick, fingers rubbing gently at the slick head.

“You're amazing,” he mumbles, “god.”

“You look really good,” Chuck contributes, a little timidly, not even sure which one of them he’s talking to--both, probably, definitely both of them. “When you’re done, if you still wanna--uh. I mean, I’d try. I wanna try.”

“ _Hell_ yes,” Liam gasps, and then glances down and winces apologetically at Rich. “Sorry, babe, it’s-- _mmh_ , it-- _ah!_ ” He leans back on his hands, and whatever the new angle does for him makes his whole body quake for a second. “...He looks _so good_ on somebody’s dick,” he confides a second later, voice breaking on the words. “So good, he-- He-- _Nnh,_ god! Yes, yes please _yes--_ ”

He comes hard, buckling around the hand on his dick and the relentless fullness of Rich inside him. Rich makes a hoarse noise, head falling back on the bed, and goes rigid and shaking, hips twitching up into Liam. When his body finally goes slack, he shivers all over, and lies still for a minute before opening dazed eyes.

“ _Dang_ ,” he says, belatedly pulling his unmoving hand away from Liam's dick. “That, wow.” He looks up at Liam, amazed and concerned. “You okay, man?”

“Mmmhm," says Liam, and eases himself up, hissing through his teeth. Shivers a little, head falling back, and then smiles brilliantly at both of them. "I'm _great_." He clambers off Rich entirely, flops down next to him and gets his face into Rich's shoulder, mouthing absently at one of Rich's ears.

Rich catches his breath, arm going around Liam. He looks deeply relieved, like he honestly thought even after all that, it was going to turn out that Liam was hurt.

“Okay,” he sighs, smiling. “Cool. Wow.” He smiles tentatively at Chuck. “So, you, do you seriously want to try that? I mean, you don't have to, it's cool, I, uh, really didn't expect it...”

"Might take a while to get you ready for this," Liam says, bleary and smug, and sniffs Rich's neck, kisses up his jaw to his ear again. "I know you just, _can't stand_ waiting to get off, maybe we should just cuddle until you cool down." Chuck growls at him. Liam makes smirking eye contact with him and sticks his tongue out to slowly trace the rim of Rich's ear. Rich gasps and shivers, twitching away a little.

...Chuck kind of would've expected him to go all hazy-eyed again, actually, enjoy it more obviously. He inhales subtly, checking Rich's scent, and finds that the thick strain of want is much fainter now, difficult to detect under the sated satisfaction and ongoing pleased surprise.

“That's not--if he _wants_ to go again, though, he should,” Rich protests to Liam. “‘S fine if it takes a while.” He blinks, distracted by Liam's proximity, and kisses him. The bright little note of delight that springs into his scent when Liam kisses back is kind of adorable.

“He’s not serious,” Chuck says, because Liam obviously isn’t going to explain himself. “He’s making fun of me for--stuff. Liam couldn’t leave somebody hanging if his life depended on it.”

“Touche,” says Liam, and sighs, sitting up. “No, he’s right, you’re right. Get over here.”

“I don’t know if, uh…” Chuck hesitates, still smelling the air, frowning. “...It kinda smells like he’s, uh...done?”

Rich blinks up at him, then frowns down his own body at his slick, soft dick, looking betrayed and kind of outraged. “Are you _serious?_ ” he demands. “I had to spend like _every free minute_ today in my bunk or a restroom or something taking care of this, and now it's done after _three?_ Not cool!”

Looking back up at Chuck, his expression turns dismayed, then determined. “I can still do something for you, though, I mean, you were willing to--” he gestures at his dick. “That's just--really cool of you. So, um. I'd like to?”

“Yeah, I’m a hero,” Chuck says, deadpan, before he can stop himself. “Riding all this dick is a hard job, but somebody’s just gotta do it.”

“You’re such a shit,” says Liam comfortably, and flicks Chuck _directly_ in the dick, not hard enough to really hurt, but definitely sudden enough to make Chuck yelp and practically levitate off the bed. “Looks like somebody’d like to put this _somewhere._ Sound about right?”

“Yeah, sure!” Chuck says, and bats Liam’s hand away as he tries to flick him again. “Quit it! Yeah, alright, I would like my dick touched. Please.”

Rich may be done with rut right now, but judging by how fast his eyes fix on Chuck's dick, he's got some interest left over. He licks his lips and nods, leaning up on his elbows, and then--hesitates. A long minute later, he shifts, spreading his legs a little, and meets Chuck's eyes steadily even as that bright blush washes over his face and across his body.

“You want to, um…?” he says.

God, could any more bootleg-tech-porn tropes happen to Chuck tonight? Fuck, holy shit.

“Is that okay?” Chuck says, even though he’s already scooting closer, putting a hand cautiously on one of Rich’s flushed thighs.

Rich swallows and nods again. He spreads his legs wider, pulls one knee up and pauses, biting his lip. “Is this, um. I don't. Actually know how this works,” he admits in a low mumble, and Chuck is pretty sure if the guy turned any redder he'd catch fire.

“Don’t worry about that part,” says Chuck, and it would be cool if his voice was low and sexy and cool, but actually it’s mostly just squeaky and breathless. It’s bizarre to not be the most embarrassed person in any given situation, and Chuck can’t resist the urge to reach out and stroke a finger up the inside of Rich’s thigh, then spread him open, savoring the soft, fading scent of heat and want. “I’ll take care of--” he falters for a second, then finishes “--it. You. It’s fine.”

Rich is breathing hard, shivering at his touch. Wide green eyes meet Chuck's and Rich nods, uncertain and trusting. He's tense, anxiety and anticipation mixed in his scent.

He tenses up even further when Chuck licks his fingers and slides one in, testing. The guy’s in rut, not heat--it’s cool of him to offer, but his biology is a lot less enthusiastic about this than it was about him fucking as many people as fast as possible. It doesn’t help that he’s definitely tense as a wire right now, enough that Chuck can feel the thigh his hand is on shaking faintly.

“Relax,” says Chuck, and then, when Rich gives him a wide-eyed, dubious look, “--I know, dude, but you gotta. Liam, can you--?”

“Help?” Liam pushes himself up and over onto his stomach, lays himself out luxuriously across Rich’s chest. “On it.” And then, because even if he’s in adrenaline-junkie sex mode, he’s still Liam-- “--There’s some lube in the drawer next to the bed. You’ve got the implant too, right hon?”

“I, hha, yeah,” Rich says distractedly--his eyes are still fixed on Chuck with something like trepidation, or maybe just hopeful lust. “I, ‘s good, I’m good _ahh…_ ”

Chuck’s fingers slide in a lot easier with lube, and Rich sucks in a breath and then relaxes a little as Liam gets his mouth on that strong neck again, mouthing at Rich’s fluttering pulse and petting absently at his chest and sides.

Rich relaxes in slow increments, twitching tighter again every time Liam nips too hard or Chuck moves too fast, but they settle into a rhythm eventually, and by the time Chuck’s got two fingers in him and is working on the third, Rich is moaning softly and at least enjoying himself enough for his overworked dick to twitch hopefully, even if he can't really get hard.

Chuck’s dick, on the other hand, is having no such problem, and he might maybe whimper and stick his fingers in his mouth when he pulls them free. “--Is that, do you feel--” How’s Rich supposed to know if he feels ready, fuck, it doesn’t sound like he’s done this before. Chuck takes a couple of gasping breaths and then manages, “--Tell me if it doesn’t feel good, okay? It should...should feel good.”

Rich nods firmly, breathing just as hard, one hand in Liam's hair. His face is flushed, his pupils wide and dark again. “Okay,” he says. “Got it.” He worries his lip for a minute and then his free hand reaches out towards Chuck. Puzzled, Chuck hesitates, then takes it. Rich squeezes once and lets go again. “'Kay, go for it.”

That’s incredibly cute, and it says something about how completely addled Chuck’s brain is with O hormones that the wires for _aww oh my god_ and _fuck him, fuck him hard_ are thoroughly crossed. He hears Liam making soothing noises over his head, comforting nonsense; lines his dick up, starts to press in and hears Rich moan and keep moaning, heels dragging at the sheets. Fucking-- _hell,_ he’s tight.

Rich's hips shiver and rock, cautiously pushing further onto him, and Rich catches his breath. “ _Ngh._ No offense,” he pants, “but you didn't _look_ this huge.”

“Mnngh,” says Chuck, and focuses really hard on not doing anything dumb like slamming his hips forward like his body definitely wants him to. “Hh _hah,_ it, yeah, ‘s like that. First time’s--’specially, the, the first time-- Good, though? Doesn’t hurt?”

Rich frowns with a look of intent inward focus and cautiously shakes his head. “'S okay,” he says, and experimentally rocks up a little harder, and then again. That time he gasps and jerks, eyes widening. “ _Oh_ ,” he says, “like that, yeah!”

“Liam,” says Chuck, and swats out at Liam’s naked butt when he just makes a vague “mmhm?” noise. “ _Dude,_ gimme a pillow.”

“Mm,” says Liam, and gropes out without taking his mouth off Rich’s neck to throw a pillow in Chuck’s general direction. It takes a minute and a bit of pushing and shoving, and Chuck has to pull back out for a second, to his intense dismay, but when he gets Rich’s hips up on a pillow and pushes back in slow and steady, it sends a shudder up and down the guy’s whole insultingly perfect body.

“Oh _god_ ,” Rich says, open-mouthed and writhing. One hand is knotted in the bedclothes, the other arm wrapped around Liam, and his legs fold around Chuck and tighten, holding him close. “Please, yeah, keep…”

That’s not going to be a problem, Chuck’s pretty sure he couldn’t stop now if he wanted to. He takes a few deep, slow breaths, getting himself together, and then starts moving, as fast and smooth as he can. Liam is all over Rich’s neck and ears again, awake enough now to guide his head back by his hair and get access to whatever he wants, and it’s just about all Chuck can do to close his eyes and focus and not come just, basically immediately.

Rich isn't loud, but he's responsive, hips rolling with Chuck's movement, gasping and moaning. He must be worn out by now, all his nerves overworked, because it takes some determined control on Chuck's part to hold out long enough. Rich writhes and goes still, tenses and relaxes again in phases as Chuck just keeps going, until finally Rich is gasping on every breath, clawing frantically at the sheets as he shakes, muscles taut. He moans, tugs at Liam's hair and turns his head, unable to speak but begging for a kiss.

Liam kisses him, and Rich moans into it and comes. Chuck makes a shivery, overwrought noise that’s thankfully too garbled to be comprehensible-- _oh thank god finally,_ fuck--and lets himself go fast and rough, finally, drags his nails at the sheets next to Rich’s hips and slams into him one last time and kind of wails at the top of his lungs as he finally comes.

It takes a lot of effort not to collapse on top of him after that, but some small, aware part of Chuck’s brain reminds him how much use they’ve put Rich’s dick through tonight, and winces over the thought of just flopping down on top of it. He pulls out very carefully instead, pets Rich’s knee until the legs wrapped around him loosen enough for him to slip free, and then shuffles back on the bed and kneels there, swaying. He always feels kind of...foggy and wiped out, after he comes, and this time it’s also come with an alarming rush of conflicted emotions he has no idea how to handle. Guilt, and triumph, and humiliation and worry, and the faint, stinging feeling that he messed up, somehow. That he did something bad.

“Thanks,” he manages, and eases himself down, lies down near Rich’s other side but not touching. “You did--really good, that was great. Good job.”

Rich perks up in a kind of groggy way, making a pleased noise, and then opens his eyes and blinks over at Chuck. “Mm?” Puzzlement and dismay thread into his scent as he starts to reach for Chuck, then stops. “Oh,” he says, glancing at Liam, half-asleep and lying on him as though on a particularly well-muscled mattress, and back to Chuck. “You don't, um. You don't like…?”

Shit, and he’s the one who’s been dealing with rut by himself in the middle of the tower, he’s the one who’s actually done something hard--and here Chuck is feeling bad over _nothing_ , for no reason at all.

“You don’t have to,” Chuck says, and smiles, curses internally when he feels it come out fake and shaky. “I’m fine.” And then, back-pedaling as he realizes what he said, “--I mean, _it’s_ fine, of course I’m fine, I mean, this was great, you’re great, I’m _fine._ Fuck. Shit, I mean, shoot, I mean, sorry.”

Barely flinching at the swearing, Rich squints and frowns a little, eyes sharpening on Chuck. “You kind of don't sound fine,” he says cautiously. “Or smell fine.” He studies Chuck a minute, thoughtful, and then swallows, that full body blush starting again. “I, um. If you don't mind, I'd--kind of like to, um. Hold you. For a while.”

Chuck stares at him--dumbfounded, somehow. That O-type urge is back again, _hold him, hold him, take care of him_ , except that feels so...mercenary, somehow. Taking advantage of this guy who’s helplessly in rut, barely doing anything for him and then fucking him and going into a stupid self-loathing spiral, none of it is exactly _cuddle-buddy_ material.

“...I,” he says, and shakes his head helplessly. “... _Why_?”

Rich stares at him a minute. “Uh. Cuz… I want to?” He tilts his head at Liam, nestled on his broad chest. “He seems to like it, so it can't be that like, techies never cuddle. It's, um, skin contact releases oxytocin, right? Feels good, good for you. And we just had sex, and I wanna, like--seriously, what's up? Why not?”

Of all the cuddling justifications Chuck was expecting this guy to pull out, neurotransmitter release was not one of them. He blinks, a little blindsided, and then manages, “--I just don’t--feel, I mean I’m not-- All I did was--”

“Ahhh,” Liam groans, and lifts his head blearily. “Hon, I know you don’t do this very often but you gotta know what top drop is, right? Come over here and snuggle, you did _fine._ ”

The guilt and shame and embarrassment jab at Chuck’s gut again. “I didn’t _top_ anybody,” he says, halfway to indignant, “I didn’t do anything! I just kind of hung around being creepy and then had him let me fuck him and then made a stupid big deal about it!”

Rich looks confused until halfway through what Chuck is saying, and then his red brows quirk into a kind of bewildered disbelief. “You--what?” he says. “No. That's, man, _none_ of that is what happened, geez! You weren't creepy, you were _awesome_ , and hot, and really nice, and if you don't come over here I'm gonna pull you over and _lie_ on you.” His frown is mostly playful and a bit uncertain, but there's definitely still a glare-ish component.

“Seconded,” says Liam. “The fact that you enjoyed yourself doesn’t make it _bad,_ for fu--for--heaven’s sake. Come here. Come on.”

Chuck holds out for another second, struggling with himself, and then groans and lies down, scooting awkwardly over until he’s kind of half on top of Rich’s arm. He settles in with a swallowed little sigh, which almost immediately cracks into a yelp as the arm he’s lying on bends and he’s scooped up onto Rich’s chest, where Liam promptly grabs him for a long, gentle kiss.

“We’ll make sure you get a chance to ride his dick next time this rolls around,” Liam says, when he finally lets Chuck pull away and catch his breath, warm and dazed. “Then you can’t say you didn’t do anything, and also, your life will be better, just, in general.” He yawns hugely. “...We’ll figure that out next year, though.”

“Um,” Rich says. “Yeah? You don't think it'll be back tomorrow? I mean, it wasn't quite as bad yesterday, but it was still, uh--plus even if it's only _sort_ of rut, I thought that lasted days, right?” He pauses, and the hand now resting on Chuck's head gently strokes his hair once. “I mean. Not that you guys, even if it _is_ still around, that doesn't mean you have to, do anything, obviously, unless you want to…”

"...Huh," says Liam thoughtfully, and braces himself up on his elbows, considering Rich's face thoughtfully. "Well, it sounds like you might need my comm info." He raises an eyebrow. "Are you asking me for my comm info, Cadet Merrill?"

Rich turns red again and looks from Chuck to Liam. “Um. Yes?” he says to both of them, and the arm around Chuck tightens for a moment, kind of--possessive, maybe? Protective, hopeful? Something--before hastily loosening again.

“Nice," says Liam, and pulls up his contact info screen, tapping Rich's wrist and neatly transferring it over. "Give us some warning, we can meet you at the entrance."

"Probably not a good idea for a big guy in a security uniform to go wading into R&D saying he's looking for somebody specific," Chuck mumbles, in response to the faint, confused twitch of Rich's brows. "Especially not if you smell like you did today. Might, uh...give the wrong idea?"

Rich's eyes widen and his mouth drops open. " _Oh_ ," he says. “You think--someone might think I was gonna be pushy about it?”

“Seems likely, yeah,” Chuck says.

“Yeesh, yeah, that would. Be bad.” Rich pauses, looking disturbed. “That's… no one would actually do that, right, even if their suppressants weren't working? I mean, I know some of the guys are real jerks, they can be… bad to be around, but. They wouldn't actually go that far, right?”

Chuck and Liam trade a look, weighing what's nice to say against what's true. "...Not...most of them," Chuck says finally, as diplomatically as he can. "Most of them don't even beat people up, uh...often. But uh.”

“Cadet suppressants do typically suppress the libido,” Liam puts in, “but not always as much as they do heat and rut, since that's what they're specifically intended for.”

“Right,” Chuck says, “so sometimes cadets get it in their heads they need a blowjob or to get eaten out or just jerk off on somebody's face or something. And they decide hey! We're probably down, y'know. Because _techies_ are just _like that_."

"Not often," Liam says again at the sick look on Rich's face. "The other kind of visit is usually orders from upstairs, but none of the execs are having the security guys come down here and grope their crotches at people."

"Probably," Chuck says, and shudders a little. "I wouldn't put it past Grear."

Rich's dismay doesn't seem diminished, and his arms tighten around Chuck and Liam. Given how Security tends to behave, Chuck had previously dismissed the common wisdom that the Cadet Corps is full of O types thanks to their protective instincts. O types also tend to be _bigger_ , minor detail, which suits them to pushing their own people around as much as fighting Motorcity. But it looks like in at least one case, common wisdom is right.

“Okay,” Rich says, breathing out, and the look on his face hardens into determination. He frees his arms to pull up his own contact info, and looks from Chuck to Liam. “I'm gonna give you guys _my_ comm, and if anyone ever bothers you or your friends like that, you're gonna call me. If it's a cadet I can probably scare them off, and if it's a commander, I have a couple of commander friends, they can take care of it. If you'll call me. Will you call me?”

“That’s really cool of you, dude,” Chuck says, “--but I don’t know if--”

“Yes, we’ll call you,” says Liam, and takes the contact, drops it on his comm list, holds it out expectantly to Chuck.

“But--” Chuck says, and struggles, abruptly, to find a way to say _please don’t tell this one specific cadet about it I need Mike Chilton specifically kept in the dark_ without inviting anybody to ask him what the fuck he’s talking about. “Just-- Okay, yeah, sure, but just, keep it pretty quiet? Okay? The whole tower doesn’t need to know people are doing this, everybody already thinks we’re…”

He’s lying on the naked chest of the guy he just had a threesome with, and this conversation is bringing that sickly, guilty unhappiness back in his chest. Chuck sighs and drops his head back down onto Rich’s chest, pulling the contact info over one-handed and slots _Merrill, Richard,_ into his contacts.

“...’S cool of you, though,” he says, too little, too late, and clings a little harder for a second, trying his hardest to shove the weird, uninterpretable mess of his emotions back down where he doesn’t have to try to untangle them. “Thanks.”

“Hey,” Rich says, stroking Chuck's hair, “it's cool, man, it's fine. I won't, like, talk about it with anyone, promise. Unless you get a commander being a jerk, then I'll call Grey in, but he's cool, he'll stay quiet too.”

Chuck hasn't heard of Commander Grey, which is probably a good sign in this case, since most Security guys don't need to have anything to do with R&D unless they're being creeps. Even if they...grew up with a tech, maybe, and could come around and visit every so often, if they called ahead, and maybe their tech buddy wouldn't be so stir-crazy and lonely all the time. Just for example.

"I'll call you," he says, a little surer this time, and closes his eyes, focuses on feeling warm and nice and close and not on the aching places in his brain.

“Awesome,” Rich says, satisfaction mixing with simple happiness in his scent. He squeezes Chuck gently and lies quiet, radiating contentment. After a few minutes he clears his throat and says in a wanna-be casual tone, “So, tomorrow? Both of you?”

"Mm,” says Liam, and snuggles down sleepily against Rich's chest. Chuck can't bring himself to answer in words; he nods, feeling his face flush hotly, and smells, more than sees, Rich's pleased relief.

“Sweet,” Rich sighs, nodding, and falls silent again. There's a thread of something Chuck can't immediately identify in his scent, though, and the guy is tensing up again for some reason. When Chuck glances up at him, he's nibbling on his lip, eyes narrowed at the ceiling. Chuck can almost hear him thinking.

Finally Rich says, in a voice trying even harder to be casual, and failing notably, “So, uh. Do techs date?”

Liam, who has been heroically fighting off sleep for a solid ten minutes now and looks about two seconds from passing out, makes a tired noise and then twitches as the words make it through. He pushes himself back up on his elbows, head a little on one side, regarding Rich thoughtfully. Chuck stays where he is, blinking. That cedary scent is definitely nervous now, and only getting more so.

"...So," says Liam, after a long, long second. "You know how people say techs just have sex with whatever moves?"

Rich swallows. "...Yeah," he says, and bites his lip. "People say a lot of dumb stuff, though," he adds, low and sort of stubborn.

"They do, totally," Liam agrees, and kind of...pets Rich's chest gently, watching his fingers trace patterns along the guy's pale collarbone. "And we don't have sex with anything that moves, we're a lot pickier than people give us credit for. But...we also don't treat it like a huge deal. It's something fun you do with friends. Or a fun thing to do with somebody when you just both think the other one’s hot. It's not always that kind of, uh..." He sighs, glances down at Chuck and gives him a faint grimace. _Help me out, here_.

"You seem cool," says Chuck, "I dunno if we know each other well enough to like...go for that, yet."

Rich swallows again and nods, eyes sliding away from theirs to rest on the ceiling. “Right. Okay. That makes sense, I get it.” The hand on Chuck's back spreads, the thumb stroking back and forth for a minute while Rich nibbles his lip. “I could, um… we could hang out? If you wanted. If either of you was interested. Get to know each other better…” he trails off, sounding less than hopeful.

"Hanging out sounds great," says Chuck, because...well, because it does, and also because he's not completely heartless, come on. "Cadets have Sundays and...Saturday afternoons off, right?"

Rich's green eyes widen, lighting up. “We--yeah! Can you get a few hours off? I mean, I hear you guys kind of live at work, can you take breaks?”

"You're not wrong," says Liam, who has graduated from looking startled to looking fondly amused. "Our supervisors are pretty cool, we could probably steal some time here and there." He yawns ostentatiously. "...I'm ahead of my quota, anyway. They can't tell me sh--squat."

Rich stares from him to Chuck, eyes bright and amazed. “Wow. Okay, cool. Awesome. I'll buy you guys lunch or something.”

"Free lunch _and_ a second threesome in two days?" Liam grins, and goes back to snuggling his face into Rich's chest with obvious enjoyment. "Must be my birthday or something, mm."

"Is that how birthdays are supposed to work?" Chuck snipes, before he can stop himself. "Because on my last birthday, _somebody_ tried to sneak his hair dye into my shampoo and then got distracted halfway through my apology blowjob and had to run off to review the results of his dumb Organic Modifications experiment."

Rich bursts out laughing, then falters for a second, with a half-worried glance in Chuck’s direction, before seeing him grinning too and breaking down into laughter again. He’s a really handsome guy already, but he’s really cute when he laughs, still kind of breathless, cheeks red and smile so broad his eyes are almost shut.

“I came back and finished it,” Liam says defensively, but his voice is uneven with repressed laughter. “Eventually. What can I say, I’m easily distracted. It was a flight of genius.”

“It’s bad manners is what it is,” Rich says, and Liam looks startled for a second and then beams, obviously thrilled to be teased. Rich gives him a little shake with the arm around him, and Liam sighs dramatically and flops down on him like all this unfair persecution has made him weak. Rich glances back over at Chuck, bright green eyes warm and smiling in the dim light of the pod. “I definitely wouldn’t get distracted,” he says, and everything is fading down to a soft, foggy peace now, but that look still kind of makes Chuck’s...everything, just kind of twitch. “I would totally give out, uh...y’know, just, my best made-to-order birthday presents. On birthdays.”

"--I can't believe that was exactly 364 days ago," Chuck says, and is incredibly proud of himself when Liam bursts into uncontrollable, punch-drunk giggles against Rich's chest. "My birthday is definitely tomorrow, what a coincidence!"

Rich is snickering too, flushed across the cheekbones and grinning shyly at Chuck. "Well, gee, I guess that means you call the shots tomorrow, since you just happen to have that luck!" He smiles at Liam. "What about you, is your birthday the day after?"

"My birthday is every day of the year, handsome," says Liam, without opening his eyes. "Now if you don't mind, can you all stop being cute for two seconds and let me soak in the post-coital bliss for a minute or two?"

“Oh,” Rich says, flushing a little more. “Yeah, we can probably do that.” He pets Liam a bit, stroking his back, and then rubbing a hand between Chuck's shoulder blades in fairness. When his eyes meet Chuck's, the look on his face is unguarded, soft and warm and pleased.

Tomorrow is sounding more and more like it's going to be a really, really good day. Chuck ducks his head away from that look, grins to himself and then dares to dart a look up and meet Rich's eyes, smiling back at him, to feel the heavy arm around him tighten and smell the soft swell of comfort and happiness in the air. "...We can do that," he repeats after Rich, and drops his head again, closing his eyes. "We can definitely do that."


End file.
